LEWISTON – Drivers directed to a police traffic checkpoint on Route 202 Wednesday afternoon reacted in a variety of ways. Some appeared startled and confused, looking out at the officers with wide eyes and fumbling for their driver information. Others looked at ease and even amused. They had their paperwork in hand when they rolled up.

Five minutes into the operation near the Greene town line, however, a man driving a company van just looked glum.

“He has a suspended license,” said police Sgt. Mike Parshall. “And the officer speaking with him could smell liquor on his breath.”

That driver’s blood-alcohol level later proved to be under the legal limit, but the suspended license was enough to make the 44-year-old Lewiston man the first to be hauled away during the five-hour police operation.

Targeting traffic headed into Lewiston on Route 202, the officers found that most of the drivers were working people heading home after a day on the job. They stopped 236 vehicles, and the drivers of most had nothing to hide.

“They’re actually very cooperative. They appreciate our efforts,” Parshall said. He thought about it. “Except the ones who don’t have a valid license.”

Police summoned or arrested six people during the early evening checkpoint. Four were charged with driving with suspended licenses, one was charged with violating bail and another was cited for driving with a registration expired for a year.

About 5 p.m., three young men in a Jeep were directed to the checkpoint area at the side of the road. Police said they smelled marijuana and they searched the vehicle. After finding a portion of a marijuana cigarette, a passenger in the back seat of the Jeep was issued a summons for violating bail.

For the most part, it was all about zeroing in on those driving when they are not supposed to. For drivers with proper paperwork, the stop meant a roughly 30-second inconvenience as police ran their information to make sure it was up to date and valid.

“I don’t mind this at all. I’m happy about it,” said 17-year-old Tyler Danforth, who proved to be driving his truck in a perfectly legal way. “If I have to be all up-to-date, so should everyone else.”

Not everyone was.

About 5:30 p.m., a Chevrolet pickup truck driven by 37-year-old Auburn woman rolled into the checkpoint. Police quickly learned that she was driving with a suspended license and not for the first time. Police said the woman had been suspended twice and now may qualify for habitual status. She was taken to jail and her truck was towed.

“That’s the name of the game,” Parshall said.

Officer Robert Dionne, who was coordinating the effort, steered approaching motorists toward the checkpoint area where a half dozen cops waited to take their information. Some of the drivers who were stopped appeared utterly baffled. When the purpose of the checkpoint was explained, most looked relieved.

“There are so many people driving around without licenses,” said Raymond Barrieault, a passenger in one of the vehicles stopped. “They need to do this.”

“I’ve never been through one of these,” said one woman, driving a minivan. “It’s pretty neat.”

Neat unless you happened to be in violation of the law when you drove up to the checkpoint.

Minutes later, a woman driving an Oldsmobile pulled in and promptly admitted that her license was suspended. Police verified it and charged her.

There were odd moments, as well.

About 5:30 p.m., a vehicle approaching the awaiting officers suddenly slowed. The driver maneuvered to the side of the road and pulled into the breakdown lane a hundred yards from the checkpoint. Suspicious, officer Ryan Rawstron drove up to the car in his cruiser and directed the driver to the checkpoint. But the teenage girl driving the car had not been making evasive maneuvers at all.

“My mother called me on the cell phone,” she told the officers. “So I pulled over.”

Her license and registration came back clean.

Another man ushered into the checkpoint held paperwork out for the officers to see. It wasn’t a license, registration and insurance card, though. It was a small, informative document handed out by the officers to each driver they question.

“It was his second time through,” said officer William Brochu. The man was waved through, the officers presuming he had not done anything to have his license revoked in the previous 10 minutes.